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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24797386">me and you, against the world</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Boys In Love, Bullying, Hate Speech, High School, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Past Bullying, M/M, Nervousness, Trigger Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:20:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,808</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24797386</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Asshole,” Carlos says, rolling his eyes. “Ruined our moment. We were saying goodbye.” </p><p>“You’ll see him in rehearsal?” Ricky questions, glancing between Seb and Carlos both.</p><p>“And? He has to go to his locker,” says Carlos. Seb only blushes. </p><p>Red smiles softly at Seb and Carlos’s exchange. They’re kind of adorable—he’s secretly been rooting for them since the beginning of the semester. He’s quite glad they’ve finally taken the step and gotten together…it was kind of obvious they liked each other earlier on. Kind of really obvious. </p><p>Ricky laughs, hollow, and it reverberates deep in his chest. “I promise you’ll be okay without him for five minutes, Carlos.” </p><p> </p><p>or, in which seb and carlos have to deal with something that, unfortunately, is always going to be part of their lives so long as they’re together.</p><p>((read notes for tw’s !))</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>me and you, against the world</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this fic is heavily centred around homophobia and homophobic actions and sort of implies past bullying, so if any of that could possibly trigger you, please please don’t continue !! stay safe everybody &lt;3</p><p>also it’s set roughly in between episode 6 and 7 i think !! :D</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>we should skip tomorrow</i>
</p><p>Carlos secretly glances down at his phone, setting his pen down on the desk. He only notices the message pop-up on his darkened screen moments after it was sent, so he only manages to catch the tail-end of the notification. Carlos powers back on his phone—of course, while making double sure to glance up once, and then once again, just to make sure Mazarra wasn’t watching him open his phone. </p><p>It’s from Seb. Of course it’s from Seb. Regardless of how expected it was—because nobody really texts him aside from his boyfriend—the sentiment was really nice, and the message itself sent a shockwave of excitement through his chest. </p><p>He looks up and spots the messy, blonde-head of hair sitting a few rows ahead of him almost immediately. He briefly wonders how Seb had even managed to send Carlos a message, especially while being nearly at the front of the class—but he’s always had his ways, Carlos supposes. He’s never gotten caught on his phone with Mazarra before (to which Carlos is <i>very</i> jealous of…sometimes it feels like this teacher really has it out for him!). </p><p>
  <i>What do you wanna do?</i>
</p><p>Carlos sets his phone down on his desk but opens it once more—there’s only ten minutes left until the final bell of the day, and then he’s got to book it to the theatre to (hopefully) start rehearsal on time today. It’s a longshot considering it’s <i>theatre</i> and <i>Miss Jenn</i> combined, but still. It’s a nice, albeit probably unattainable, dream to fantasize about. </p><p>
  <i>i’m not sure</i>
</p><p><i>anything but attend this dumb class again</i> </p><p>Carlos almost chuckles, but immediately refrains from doing so because he knows he’ll get into deep, deep trouble if he makes a peep in this class. Plus, he's not even supposed to be on his phone in the first place. All around, it’s probably best to keep his mouth shut. </p><p><i>i’m serious, los, if i have to sit and listen to this guy talk about molecular atoms for one more class i might for real dropout of school</i> </p><p>Despite how hard he tries, Carlos lets out a breath of a laugh which makes Mazarra’s head shoot up from his work on his desk. “Mister Rodriguez?” He spits bitterly from way across the room. “Do you want to share?” </p><p>“Sorry,” says Carlos, and cracks a smile at Seb when he sees him turn around in his chair. </p><p>“Mister Smith, you too. There isn’t much time left and I’d rather not confiscate both of your phones until tomorrow.” </p><p>It shuts the both of them up, and Seb immediately turns back around in his seat. </p><p>Though Carlos isn’t exactly sitting close enough to him to hear it, he thinks he sees Seb mutter something under his breath, to which Carlos can only assume it to be along the lines of, “It’s <i>Matthew</i>-Smith,” because nobody ever seems to get it right, and he knows how much it makes Seb upset. After all, Matthew <i>was</i> his only last name until his mom got married again, just a couple of years ago, so to hear people constantly cutting the more significant part of his name out makes him really upset sometimes. </p><p>Not like Carlos <i>really</i> remembers any of that all too well from that one offhanded time Seb had told him it, or anything. </p><p>Carlos notices that Seb shuts his phone off and slips it underneath his notebook on his desk. He figures it’s fair enough, and <i>he</i> doesn’t really want Mazarra to keep his phone until tomorrow’s class, either, but still—he wants to text Seb. He wants to be able to keep talking to him despite the strict rules set by Mazarra—A.K.A the <i>demon teacher</i>. Carlos swears he’s never had a worse teacher in his life. </p><p>God, he’s being so dramatic. There’s only, like, five minutes left of class. </p><p>The last few moments of the period pass by quickly, to which everyone immediately starts to pack up to make their way out—like, literally to go anywhere but this classroom. Carlos doesn’t think any of his peers in this Science class like it, even a little bit. For good reason, too. Mazarra sucks. </p><p>Carlos packs up his belongings quickly before running—which earns a glare from Mazarra, but hey, it’s after hours now!—over to Seb’s desk. </p><p>Seb looks up to Carlos and immediately cracks a smile. He can’t help it. All of that was, admittedly, pretty funny. “I can’t believe you almost got us caught. Can you imagine if—“</p><p>“What?” Says Carlos, grabbing Seb’s textbook from his desk and starting towards the door.</p><p>“Such a gentleman,” Seb coos, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and trailing behind Carlos. Once the two of them have left the classroom, Seb then immediately finishes with, “Can you imagine if you had to read my message out loud? I said I’d drop out of school if I had to take another class with him!”</p><p>Carlos begins to giggle quietly to himself as he walks alongside Seb. He looks over at his boyfriend. “I would’ve pulled something off,” says Carlos, shrugging. “Trust me. I wouldn’t have thrown you under the bus like that.” </p><p>As they continue towards the auditorium, Carlos adjusts both of their textbooks in his right arm while he reaches out, hesitantly, to grab Seb’s right hand. Seb seems caught off-guard for only a moment before he melts, too, into the contact. They haven’t been <i>together</i> together for very long, and they’re still very much in their awkward phase with one another, but Seb being able to casually hold hands with his boyfriend while walking down the hallway at school, without worrying about who might see, just like Ricky and Nini can, or Red and Ashlyn, makes him feel giddy inside every time he thinks about it—or does it, too. </p><p>It’s a really nice feeling. </p><p>“So, should we place bets on how late we think rehearsal is going to start today?”  Carlos asks as he briefly nudges Seb’s shoulders with his own. “I’m guessing Miss Jenn is going to be late by, like, ten minutes, and then it’ll take another ten to get everyone settled down and ready to actually rehearse. I feel like I’m being generous about that, too. What about you?” </p><p>“Hey, she tries her best!” Seb says, and then pauses for a moment. “But…yeah, you’re probably right—unfortunately. And then we’ll get out of rehearsal half an hour late to make up for it.” </p><p>Carlos rolls his eyes and laughs. “You’re right. I’ve started telling my mom to pick me up at least twenty minutes after we’re meant to be out, and it works every time, without fail.”</p><p>“I believe it!” </p><p>The two boys arrive outside the door of the bomb shelter momentarily, and then they give each other a short glance. Carlos sighs as he drops Seb’s hand to give him his own textbook back, and then leans into his boyfriend’s chest slightly. They’ve obviously gotten ridiculously comfortable with PDA the last couple of weeks. </p><p>Seb takes back his textbook with a grin, leaning back into Carlos and pressing his lips shortly to Carlos’s. “I need to go to my locker,” he says quietly, and then kisses Carlos once again. They both give each other hesitant grins. </p><p>Carlos looks over his shoulder for a split-second before leaning up to Seb one final time. He presses another, longer kiss to Seb’s lips before he feels a slight push on his back that nearly sends him toppling into Seb. The two boys jump apart, and Carlos swears he feels his heart skip a beat or two before turning around.</p><p>He lets out a huff of air when he sees that it was just Ricky who’d tapped him, grinning ear-to-ear, with a hesitant-looking Red standing behind him. Carlos then grumbles once he realizes it was never a real threat to neither him nor Seb. “Asshole,” Carlos says, rolling his eyes. “Ruined our moment. We were saying goodbye.” </p><p>“You’ll see him in rehearsal?” Ricky questions, glancing between Seb and Carlos both.</p><p>“And? He has to go to his locker,” says Carlos. Seb only blushes. </p><p>Red smiles softly at Seb and Carlos’s exchange. They’re kind of adorable—he’s secretly been rooting for them since the beginning of the semester. He’s quite glad they’ve finally taken the step and gotten together…it was kind of obvious they liked each other earlier on. Kind of really obvious. </p><p>Ricky laughs, hollow, and it reverberates deep in his chest. “I promise you’ll be okay without him for five minutes, Carlos.” </p><p>“Could you guys get out of the way of the door? Damn,” they all hear, and everybody whips their head around to see a mostly-unfamiliar face trying to push his way through the four boys. Carlos knows he’s a random backup dancer in the show, but he wouldn’t be able to place a name if he’d tried and he knows they’ve never really interacted before. “Gross.” </p><p>Ricky glances at the dancer up and down. “Gross?” He repeats. He stands directly in front of Carlos, with Seb behind him. He’s the tallest out of all of them by tons, anyway. “The hell is gross, dude?” </p><p>The guy quirks an eyebrow and glances behind Ricky’s shoulder. “You know what I’m talking about. Can you just get out of the way? Like, people are trying to get to rehearsal and here y’all are, making out and shit. Jesus.” </p><p>Seb cowers behind Carlos, continuing to keep their hands tightly clasped together, and suddenly, Carlos has never been more thankful for Ricky and his God-blessed height. This kind of shit has happened far too many times to Carlos for him to even begin to count, but he knows Seb has way less experience with this kind of thing, and frankly…he just wants to protect Seb from everything bad in the world. </p><p>Ricky takes a step closer to the guy, while he pushes Carlos back behind him. “One more word like that and I swear to God, you’re out of the show, dude.” </p><p>“I literally just want you guys out of my way. Goddamn,” he says, and then shoves Ricky our of his way, glaring at both Seb and Carlos as he pushes through them, too, walking into the bomb shelter, leaving the four boys alone, gaping in disbelief and shock.</p><p>Seb drops Carlos’s hand. </p><p>“I still need to go to my locker,” Seb says, and Carlos whips his head around to look at him. </p><p>“I’ll come with you,” he says immediately. Ricky and Big Red both stare nervously between the two of them, taking in their now-almost cold, hesitant interactions. </p><p>Seb shakes his head, and he clutches his Science textbook with both hands against his chest. “I’m fine. I’m fine, Los. I’ll just be a minute, okay?” </p><p>Stiffly nodding, Carlos bites down on his lip as he watches Seb walk away, back down the hallway without any significant form of goodbye. </p><p>It stings a little. A lot, actually. Holy shit. </p><p>Ricky and Big Red both mumble incoherently back and forth and then check up on Carlos. He seems distant, now. </p><p>“I’ll go find Miss Jenn, and—“</p><p>“No,” Carlos snaps, shaking his head. He sees Nini, Ashlyn and Kourtney walking down the hall towards them, laughing amongst one another, over Ricky’s shoulder. He doesn’t want to ruin rehearsal today, because he knows that if Miss Jenn finds out, she’ll make everything into a <i>huge</i> deal, and…honestly, it’s nothing Carlos has never dealt with before. It’s been a while, sure, but he’ll live. He’ll be fine. “Don’t tell her. Just…go to rehearsal.”</p><p>“Carlos, that wasn’t—“</p><p>“Ricky, <i>please</i>.”</p><p>Ricky glances down at Red, who seems to have an uncomfortable look of displeasure on his face. He’s not really sure what to do, either—obviously. </p><p>“Hey, guys!” Nini exclaims as she comes up behind the three boys, still standing a foot or so outside the doorway of the bomb shelter. “Aren’t you going to go inside?” </p><p>Ashlyn and Kourtney both momentarily pause behind Nini before shrugging and making their way inside. Carlos immediately nods, plastering a smile on his face. “Of course. I think we’re learning a new song today!”</p><p>Nini smiles big at Carlos. “I can’t wait!” She exclaims, and then turns her back to Carlos, entering the room moments behind her friends. Carlos gives Ricky one more final glance of suspicion before he follows her, too. Ricky and Big Red both decide they’re probably no use standing outside the rehearsal room now anyway, so they follow, finally, leaving the hallway empty of students. </p><p>As soon as Carlos enters the room, it feels like all eyes are on him. Seb is still missing, he mournfully notices, though he’s not exactly surprised. He guesses Seb will probably take his time coming back—it’s not like they’ll be starting any time soon, he’s sure, and Seb seemed really shaken. He probably needs a breather. </p><p>Carlos glances around the room and sees a sticky note stuck to his binder, sat on his chair from yesterday’s rehearsal. He approaches it and picks the binder up, reading the note carefully. </p><p>
  <i>I would like you to get started on vocal warmups right at 3 o’clock. We’re going over STTSQ first today, so make sure Seb has his sheet music here and ready.</i>
</p><p>Sighing quietly at the note, Carlos glances over at the piano. Nobody’s sitting at it, except Seb has his purple binder sat on the top of it, which is a bit weird, Carlos notes, because he’s sure Seb makes a point to leave it on the music rack instead of sitting on top of the instrument itself. </p><p>Maybe it was just an off day.</p><p>Carlos puts down his binder back onto his chair and makes his way towards the piano, picking up the purple binder as soon as he gets to it. If Seb isn’t here to check for it himself, Carlos supposes he should probably do that before rehearsal starts. </p><p>Flicking open the duotang quickly, Carlos catches a glimpse of another, similar note to the one he got earlier, stuck on the front page of Seb’s music. It doesn’t look like Seb’s big, loopy handwriting, but instead it’s very pointed and small, so he scans over it with a suspicious gaze.</p><p>Carlos shuts the binder as soon as he reads over the note, and then clutches it tightly in his arms. He’s not even sure what to think.</p><p><i>God</i>. </p><p>Carlos can hardly believe his eyes. </p><p>Taking a final glance around the room, Carlos runs the opposite way of the piano, out of the door as quickly as he possibly can. He needs to find Seb. </p><p>Once he’s safely made his way out of the rehearsal room, Carlos takes a moment to calm down. Seb’s binder is still tightly clutched to his chest, so he removes it and opens it once again. He’s shaking. The note in question, the one that made Carlos run out of rehearsal, is still stuck on the same first piece of music in Seb’s folder, on the <i>What I’ve Been Looking For</i> reprise, menacingly. </p><p>How could someone—presumably that guy, that fucking asshole—leave this for Seb? </p><p>He hadn’t done <i>anything</i> wrong—<i>neither</i> of them had done anything wrong! </p><p>He carefully peels the sticky note from the page it was stuck on, and then glances about the page itself. He sees a small doodle Seb must’ve made of a heart with both of their initials in it, and Carlos’s heart drops to his stomach. What would’ve been so sweet and precious to find has been tainted, it seems, especially because this guy probably saw it, too. He probably saw Seb’s doodle. He most definitely saw them holding hands, them kissing one another. </p><p>Carlos’s head feels like it’s spinning—it’s going a thousand miles a minute, just like it used to, last year, when he’d get pushed around and taunted in the cafeteria or in the hallway, completely and totally alone. Just for being himself. </p><p>Carlos closes Seb’s binder and crumples the note up in his fist. He can’t hear the chatter of the students anymore, to which he realizes he made it a lot further away from the bomb shelter than he’d meant to. He hopes nobody comes looking for him, in the back of his mind, but presently, all he can think about is Seb, and that guy, and the fact that someone decided to go out of their way to leave his boyfriend this God-awful note. Seb couldn’t hurt a fly, and yet, that guy thinks he deserves to see this, simply because…what, he and Carlos are dating? They had to part ways for a few minutes and wanted to say goodbye the way any other couple would, naturally? </p><p>Distantly, Carlos realizes he hears Miss Jenn yelling to the group of teenagers, waiting for rehearsal to start. He thinks he hears his name, maybe, but he’s not so sure he cares right now. Rehearsal is so far out of his mind right now, and—</p><p>“Los? Carlos? What are you doing?” </p><p>Carlos jumps and brings the binder back up, close to his chest once again, note still crumpled, clutched tightly in his hand. “I—oh,” he says defensively, and then lets his guard down once he realizes who it is. “I’m not doing anything, I just—“</p><p>“Why do you have my music?” </p><p>Freezing in place, Carlos makes absolutely no move to give Seb back his binder. Seb quirks an eyebrow. </p><p>“Are you okay?”</p><p>Carlos clutches the note tighter in his hand. He’s not even sure he should have Seb see it. When Carlos doesn’t make a move to respond, Seb hesitantly reaches out to grab his binder back. “Seb—“</p><p>“What’s in your hand?” Seb asks, making a second move to grab the clenched hand that Carlos seems to be hiding away. “What did you do?”</p><p>Carlos searches Seb’s face for something, anything to help him. There’s nothing. He really doesn’t seem to be letting up. “Uh,” Carlos hums, gulping nervously. “I got a note from Miss Jenn on my binder saying that we were doing Status Quo today and to check with you to see if you had your music and stuff,” he says. He’s avoiding Seb’s eyes, now. “So I checked your binder, but—um, I found something else instead?”</p><p>Seb raises both eyebrows, a teasing smile appearing on his face. “I don’t remember putting anything too incriminating into my music, Los.”</p><p>“It wasn’t you.”</p><p>Cocking his head to the side, Seb reaches out once again to grab his binder. “What was it?”</p><p>Slowly, hesitantly, Carlos relaxes his hand and extends it out to Seb. As if something will jump out at Seb, he takes the wad of paper cautiously from his boyfriend’s hand and un-crumples it. “What is this?”</p><p>“Read it.” </p><p>Smoothing out the crumples from the small note, Seb glances down at it. His face drops nearly immediately. </p><p><i>Me and my gf blocking the doorway would be one thing, but blocking it w your bf is another. It’s rlly gross and i promise we don’t wanna see it. Do it tomorrow and we</i> promise <i>you’ll regret it, Shar</i> </p><p>The note gracefully falls through Seb’s fingers and flutters to the floor between the two boys standing together, nearly chest-to-chest. Carlos can see his boyfriend’s hands are shaking, now, too, so he bends down and sets Seb’s binder on the ground so he can extend both of his own out to grab onto Seb’s and calm him. “I know.”</p><p>“What the hell?” Seb asks. “I—“</p><p>“I know, Seb.” </p><p>“Who left this? Do you know his name?”</p><p>Carlos shakes his head. </p><p>Seb feels his breaths begin to shallow, and Carlos doesn’t hesitate to wrap both of his arms tightly around his boyfriend’s shoulders, no matter who’s possibly watching them. He doesn’t care, and it’s a weird feeling—he’s usually the one to care more, unequivocally. “I’m sorry, Seb.”</p><p>“We didn’t even do anything wrong,” Seb says, hesitantly wrapping his arms underneath Carlos’s outstretched ones, resting his head on Carlos’s shoulder. “I’ve never talked to him in my life. I don’t even know how he knows me, like—“</p><p>“You’ve got to relax,” says Carlos. He pulls away from Seb slowly. “I’m here with you.  I know I’m kind of short and I’ve never thrown a punch in my life, but I’m here with you.” </p><p>Seb nearly chuckles, but he’s startled by the sound of a door being opened and loud heels starting to click just a few doors down in the otherwise-peacefully silent hallway. </p><p>“Carlos?” They both hear, similarly whipping their heads around to see Miss Jenn standing a couple of feet beside the door of the bomb shelter. “What’s going on? Did you not get my note to start rehearsal before I arrived?” </p><p>Seb and Carlos both break apart quickly, and Carlos scrambles to bend down and pick up Seb’s music binder once again. “Yeah, I’m sorry, there was just a couple things—“</p><p>“I depend on you to fulfill your role in this show, Carlos,” says Miss Jenn as she walks down the hallway, finally standing a few feet away from the boys once she stops again. “We should have started at least ten minutes ago.”</p><p>Almost immediately, Carlos pulls out his phone and checks the time. School ended nearly a half-hour ago already? He hardly has time to believe, well, the time, before he’s being shrugged off by Seb, bending down to pick up the dreaded note that had fallen to the floor just moments ago. “He was helping me, Miss Jenn,” Seb says sweetly. He sort of knows she has a soft spot for him, and he definitely takes advantage of it when he can. </p><p>“With what?”</p><p>“Seb,” Carlos warns, reaching a hand out to his boyfriend's arm, in an attempt to hopefully warn him. From many personal experiences, Carlos can say with certainty that reporting this kind of stuff never gets anybody anywhere—in fact, nine times out of ten, it benefits the bully more than it’s ever benefitted Carlos. “You don’t have to.”</p><p>Miss Jenn glances to Carlos, then to Seb and back to Carlos. “What’s going on?”</p><p>“Um,” Seb says, and he means to reach his fisted hand out to his teacher, but something suddenly feels to stop him. As if he shouldn’t be doing this—as if it’s wrong of him to tell somebody. “Someone in the show, um, gave me this.”</p><p>Again, Miss Jenn flits her eyes between Seb and Carlos. Finally, they land on Seb’s tightly closed hand. “Yes?” </p><p>With a surge of confidence, Seb raises his hand and passes the sticky note to his teacher standing in front of him, and then takes a step back, nearly bumping into Carlos in the process. Carlos, as nonchalant and secretly as he can, reaches out and grabs ahold of Seb’s hand. He interlaces their fingers quietly, and Seb squeezes his boyfriend’s hand—in solidarity, maybe. </p><p>Both boys scan Miss Jenn’s face as she reads over the note once, twice. They both see her features range from shock to disappointment to sadness to anger, all in the span of a few seconds. She sure is a drama teacher, alright. </p><p>“Who left you this?” </p><p>Miss Jenn finally looks up from the crumpled note in her hand to Seb. In the corner of her eye, she notices the boys interlocked hands, clearly attempting—though failing—to be hidden down behind Seb’s leg. Her heart drops. </p><p>They shouldn’t have to do that. </p><p>“I don’t know his name,” Seb says shortly. Carlos rubs his thumb over the back of Seb’s hand. “I think he’s a dancer in the show.”</p><p>“Point him out to me, please,” Miss Jenn says suddenly. She takes a step backwards. </p><p>Carlos furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Why is she asking for them to point him out? He’s never seen a teacher do this before. Like, <i>never</i>.</p><p>“What—what do you mean?” </p><p>Miss Jenn has this look of dumbfounded obviousness on her face. “I don’t want him in my show anymore.” </p><p>Seb and Carlos whip their heads around to look at one another. They hadn’t meant to ruin the show for this kid! “You really don’t have to—“</p><p>The woman in front of both of them hesitates a moment, as if she doesn’t quite know how to respond. “I don’t tolerate this kind of stuff in my productions,” she says firmly. “What he's said here isn’t okay. You both put too much time and effort into making this show amazing—for not only you, but everybody else—to be given treatment like this. This theatre is meant to be a safe space for everyone who’s a part of it—that’s the whole point of what theatre truly is.”</p><p>Carlos glances back up at Miss Jenn. “Are you being serious?” </p><p>“Of course I am,” she says, her eyes wide, in that usual, weird Miss Jenn way. She softens her voice significantly. “This is a safe space for everybody, including both of you, and everybody else like this, no matter who you are, or who you like, or how you identify.” </p><p>Carlos gulps down a cry, squeezing Seb’s hand tightly in his own. He has never, ever heard those words come from a teacher in his entire life. Seb rubs the back of Carlos’s hand with his thumb to try and comfort him. Seb hasn’t gone through the same things Carlos has, he’s never really been given a hard time for something as small as who he likes, but he knows how big of a deal these simple reassurances are to his boyfriend. He thinks Miss Jenn can tell, too, because he sees her features soften significantly, too. </p><p>“I’m sorry if you’ve ever been told differently. My theatre is a welcoming place for everybody—except people who think it’s alright to leave these kinds of notes for some of my best cast members. This is unacceptable.” </p><p>“I think if it’s okay, Miss Jenn, we’ll stay out here for a moment and we’ll come back in and point him out when we’re ready?” </p><p>“Of course. We’ll use some backing tracks to run some old choreo in the meantime. Take your time, boys.” </p><p>Miss Jenn gives the couple one final smile of solidarity before turning around on her heel and making her way back to rehearsal, leaving the two of them alone to process everything together. </p><p>Seb turns around slowly on his heel to face Carlos. He can tell Carlos is fairly shocked, because his face is doing that wide-eyed, mouth agape thing that he does. It’d be cute if Seb wasn’t so shocked, too. “What are you thinking?” Seb asks, because sometimes it's kind of hard to tell. Sometimes, he's not really sure if Carlos is about to burst into laughter or burst into tears. </p><p>“I’ve never had a teacher do that before.”</p><p>Squeezing Carlos’s hand even tighter than before, Seb takes a step closer to his boyfriend. “Hey,” he says. His voice is quiet, soft. Tentative. “She’s here for us, too. She’s given you a chance. Us.” </p><p>A smile cracks onto Carlos’s face. “I know.” </p><p>“And I gave you a chance, too, you know.” </p><p>Carlos grins again softly, and looks down into the space between the two of them. </p><p>“Hey,” Seb says quietly, trying to catch Carlos’s attention. Finally, Carlos looks up and his eyes flicker between Seb’s eyes and his mouth—of course. “Hey—we’re in school, Los!” </p><p>“Yeah, and we were in school a half hour ago with douchebag over there, weren’t we?”</p><p>Seb takes a moment to consider his options. He could either push Carlos away in fear, in fear of being hated on again, or in fear of getting another note, or he could pull him closer. Closer, because together, they’ll have the chance to go through whatever bad comes their way. </p><p>He makes his choice, in the middle of this empty music hallway at school. He presses his lips to Carlos’s. </p><p>And now, it’s sealed. No matter what happens in the future—be it two minutes from now, or two years—they’ll be together. </p><p>“We should probably get back to rehearsal. I think Miss Jenn is going to meet us soon.”</p><p>“I know,” says Carlos softly. He presses one more, final kiss to Seb’s lips, and gives him a small peck on his cheek, too, just for good measure. “It’ll be fine. Whatever happens with him, right?” </p><p>“He’s not going to be in the show any longer,” says Seb, and then he pulls Carlos’s hand, gesturing for them to walk back to the bomb shelter. “But it’s not our fault. It’s his.”</p><p>“I’m glad to have you with me for this.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah?”</p><p>“Of course, Seb.” </p><p>“That’s kind of soft, Los.” </p><p>“Only for you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>as usual, all reads/kudos/comments are always so appreciated and cherished !! my twitter is basmattsmxth and my tumblr is andimackthemacktheseries if u ever wanna interact ! stay safe and healthy, and stay at home (if you can!!) &lt;33</p></blockquote></div></div>
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